When Zoidberg Finds Ariel
by Cartoonatic55
Summary: While on a vacation, Zoidberg finds a human Ariel and befriends her almost immediately. Can he and his friends help get Ariel out of trouble and save her from Ursula's contract? AU. Response to CPT's challenge. R&R. Any and all reviews accepted.
1. Chapter 1: Intro

**_(Disclaimer: I... Own... Nothing...)_**

**_Penguin: Okay, I give up. What the heck are you doing now?_**

**_Me: Responding to CPT's challenge, silly! It seems like it'd be fun, so I decided to try it out._**

**_Penguin: Please tell me I'm not in it._**

**_Me: Of course you are!_**

**_Penguin: Gah! Well, at least it's not a parody..._**

* * *

Oh yes. A beach. It truly is a thing of beauty. The waves crashing upon a shore where land and sea meet and create a beautiful sight of an ocean that seems to go on forever and where people can either swim in its beautiful crystal blue depth or sit on the sandy shore and watch the sea in awe as it tosses and turns over itself continuously and endlessly. Yet few really know of what happens far below its shimmery surface, for far below the waves, there's a city where merpeople live in harmony with one another. But few ever dare to come to the surface, for they fear that the creatures above, humans, will capture them and treat them no better than their fellow friends the fish. They hear horrible stories of humans with their nets, fishing poles, hooks, cannons and other such weaponry that they used to capture fish and feud over each other. Eventually they thought they'd kill each other off. But there are some who don't fear the humans and find them interesting.

One of them is Ariel.

She had always been curious about the things that humans had invented, such as dinglehoppers and snortblats. They made her want to explore places beyond the sea and talk to them.

But her father, King Triton, viewed humans very differently. He hated all humans. They were an utter nuisance to their way of life. Always fighting in wars, sea battles, almost anywhere whenever they can. He hoped they'd kill each other and leave this world once and for all so that they can go back to having peace.

Ariel always argued with him about humans. She thought they were wonderful and full of knowledge, but her father thought they were horrid, cold-blooded creatures that could never have feelings or compassion for anything. She wished she could prove him wrong. Oh, how she wished she could. But there was no avoiding it. His mind couldn't be changed about it.

Not even if she loved one.

Yes, she found that she had fallen in love with a human. His name was Eric. She saved him from a shipwreck that was caused by a hurricane and ever since then he's been on her mind. She wanted to tell him so much about herself, but her father would never aprove of it. She knew it. So she did something drastic to be with him. She went to Ursula, the infamous sea-witch that had been banned from Atlantica for years, and made a dangerous deed with him. Ursula promised to make her a human in exchange for her voice, but she would only stay human for three days unless she recieved a true kiss from Eric. She signed the contract and the deed was done. Ursula used a powerful spell to capture her voice and keep it in a shell she had on a necklace around her fat neck and in return she almost instantly turned Ariel into a human. If it weren't for the quick thinking of her friends Flounder and Sebastian, she wouldn't have lasted long, for she was still underwater when she went through her transformation. In the morning, Ariel woke up and smiled in delight as she stared at her new human legs.

Meanwhile on the same beach not too far away from her, three other people were sitting on the sandy shore looking out at the shining waters. Let's see who they are.

The first one was a human. He had slighty-spiked orange hair, a long pointed nose, and blue eyes that seemed as deep as the ocean he was now gazing at. He was wearing a white shirt that partially covered his arms and gray pants with vertical black stripes. On a blanket not too far away, he had placed a set of gray socks, black shoes, a black tuxedo, a monicle and a large black and gray top-hat. This is Penguin. He was relieved to be out of Gotham City and take a vacation away from all the fuss of the big city. He'd been waiting to get away to a nice quiet town like this. It certainly made him relax.

The second one was a little human girl with tan skin, jet-black hair, and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a red dress with white leaves on them and light brown sandals. This is Lilo. She came on a vacation with her "cousin in-law", Penguin. She was relieved to be out in the sun in a quiet town as well. For the last few weeks she'd been keeping track of the experiments making sure that they were all there and accounted for. She'd been overdoing things recently, so the letter from Penguin was the perfect opportunity to get out of her workaholic habit.

The third one's the most unusual of them. He's an alien who looks a lot like a crustacean. He was red and had claws, but his light blue eyes were placed like a human's are. He has four tentacle-like mouthflaps that overlap his mouth and a bald head. He usually wears a white lab coat with matching pants with a green shirt underneath, but today he was wearing a bathing suit with lime-green and dark-blue horizontal stripes. His name is Zoidberg. An old friend of Penguin's, he was invited to come with him on a vacation trip to a quaint town with him. Zoidberg usually never gets invitations, so it didn't take long for him to take him up on it.

The three of them were just sitting on the beach thinking of ways to spend the rest of their vacation. After all, this was just day one.

"So, any ideas yet?," Penguin asked.

Lilo shrugged. "Maybe we could go into town and find something to do after we're done here."

"Hm. Okay. But what are we gonna do tomorrow?"

"Maybe we can just drag it out by playing some sort of game."

"Like what?"

"Well, there's Scrabble."

"That'd be a good game to play. That is if Zoidberg didn't eat some of the letters!"

Zoidberg shrugged. "How was I supposed to know those 'M's and 'S's didn't stand for 'M&Ms' and 'Skittles'?"

"Zoidberg, M&Ms and Skittles are _round_. Scrabble tiles are _square_," Lilo explained.

"Not to mention that they're made of wood," Penguin added monotonely.

Zoidberg hung his head and frowned. "I'm sorry, friends. I had no idea."

Lilo pat him on the back. "It's okay, Zoidberg. Stitch used to do the same thing, only he ate the whole thing."

He looked up and smiled a little. "Thanks, Lilo. I think I'll scuttle around to see if anyone else is here." He lifted himself up and walked off to see if he could find anyone.

Back with Ariel, Scuttle had been told the whole thing and helped her dress, er, stylishly. With the help of some torn sails and a bit of rope that were nearby, Scuttle made her a rough, last-minute dress. And they were just in time, for when he was looking at it to see that everything was perfect, they heard footsteps.

Flounder gasped! "Someone's coming!"

"Oh my gosh!," cried Scuttle! "Well sweetie, I gotta get goin'. I'll see you later." Then he opened up his wings and started flying out toward the sea. "Good luck, kid!," he yelled as he flew away.

Zoidberg looked around curiously. He could've sworn he'd heard somebody say, "Good luck, kid!" He rubbed his claw against his mouthflaps and thought for a moment. Then he shook it off and continued on with his scuttle. Sebastian and Flounder hid behind a nearby rock and carefully looked over to make sure Ariel was okay. Ariel sat on a flat rock that was nearby and waited for the person that she thought was Eric to turn the corner and see her.

Zoidberg scuttled on, but in his mind he was still puzzled. He did hear someone say "Good luck, kid!", didn't he? Or did he just imagine it? Maybe someone else was there after all. "Maybe taking this scuttle wasn't so bad after all," he said to himself. Then he turned the corner and saw Ariel. His eyes widened. "Maybe."

* * *

**_Me: Okay, how is it so far?_**

**_Penguin: Weird._**

**_Me: Can't you say something positive for once?_**

**_Penguin: Oh. Okay. I'm positive that you're a nut._**

**_Me: Thank you! Now anyone out there whose interested, feel free to review or if I need to improve something, tell me. But nicely!_**


	2. Chapter 2: New Friends

Zoidberg's eyes widened a bit. When he turned the corner, he didn't expect anyone to be there. Well, he didn't expect anyone like Ariel anyway.

Ariel could hardly believe what she was seeing either. She had read plenty of books about the world above the sea, but none of them had mentioned anything about a creature like him. He was not a human, but rather a giant, red, lobster-like crustacean with four tentacles over his mouth. But unlike the crustaceans she knew under the sea, he walked and dressed like a human would. She looked at him and he just stared back with a similar look of confusion and curiosity in his light blue eyes. She could tell that he was just as interested in her as she was in him. She slightly cocked her head to one side as he lifted one of his claws to his face and gently scratched his tentacles a bit. He shuffled up to her to get a better look at her. Now his face was only a few inches away from hers, something that made Ariel uncomfortable. She tried to shift around so that she wasn't so close to him but while she was doing this her hand slipped and she was about to fall but Zoidberg had caught her. She looked at him, a bit surprised that he'd do so for her.

As a matter of fact, he surprised himself. He was usually a bit clumsy and had slower reactions than most people, but something in his mind had made him react a bit faster than usual. He looked at her to see her staring back, which for some reason made his cheeks start to give of a slightly pink glow against his already red face. He had never held a girl like this before and it was making him nervous. Neither of them had said a word and the only sounds he could hear were the gentle splashing of the waves on the shore, the distant sound of seagulls crying and his own three hearts pounding away against his sides. He tried to say something to cut off the slightly-awkward silence between them, but for some reason his words got stuck halfway in his throat and refused to come out. He tried to choke them out, but nothing happened. He looked at her and tried to say something. Anything. He held his mouth open for a while, but the words still refused to leave him. He just stood there trying to force them out until he eventually managed to squeak out a slightly raspy and very weak, "Hi." He quickly looked down at the sand and frowned at himself. That didn't come out in the way he wanted at all.

Ariel smiled and tried to hold in her shy laughter. But even if she wanted to laugh out loud nothing would happen. Ursula still had her voice and as long as she did, she couldn't say a word. But then she saw Zoidberg's face. She could tell by his expressions that he didn't mean for it to sound quite like that and that he was quite embarrassed and ashamed of it. She moved her hand down his back and patted him gently. Zoidberg looked back at Ariel and smiled. He sat her down on the sand and sat next to her. Now that he wasn't holding her, he felt relaxed. So he tried to talk to her again, but this time his voice sounded normal. "So, um, do you live nearby, miss..." He paused. He tried to think if he got her name or not. The moment they had before had made him lose track of what he did and didn't know about this girl. "Miss... Miss... Miss..." After a few minutes passed, he suddenly remembered that he didn't ask. He wanted to, but his mind and his voice wouldn't cooperate. "Say, what _is_ your name, miss?"

Ariel tried to tell him her name, but she couldn't. For a moment she'd forgotten about her deal with Ursula. She looked down sadly and sighed.

Zoidberg noticed that she was trying to speak, but she didn't say anything. He was puzzled. _'Maybe she's still nervous about what happened,'_ he thought. He couldn't blame her. Any two strangers who had just met and had been put in that kind of a position for a while would make almost anybody a bit shaky. So to take a bit of pressure off her, he decided to tell her his name first. "Well, anyway, I suppose you're wondering who I am right now."

She looked over at him and nodded.

"Well, my name is-"

"Doctor Zoidberg!"

Zoidberg his head after hearing Lilo's voice calling for him. "Lilo?"

Not too far away from where Zoidberg heard Scuttle, Lilo and Penguin were following the slightly washed-out tracks he made not long ago. "Zoidberg!" she shouted again.

"Come on, Zoidberg! It's time for us to go!," Penguin shouted shortly after. They had to leave for the docks soon because they were expecting a few more of Penguin's friends to show up on the next boat.

Not wanting his friends to think he'd abandoned them, he decided to call out in response. "I'm over here!" he shouted.

At the sound of his voice, the two humans started to rush over rocks and across the sand to get to him. They had a tight schedule today and they were already late. Lilo was the first to turn the corner with Penguin only a few feet behind her. "Come on, Zoidberg! We've gotta get to the docks or they might- think- we..." Her words slowed down to a stop as she noticed the girl he was sitting by. Lilo's eyes widened a bit. She didn't think there was anyone else on the beach outside herself and the two friends. Upon making eye contact with Lilo, Ariel waved at her a bit shyly. She waved back with a smile and added, "Hi."

Before Lilo could say anything else, a nearly-out-of-breath Penguin had just turned around the corner. He leaned his arm against a nearby rock and started to catch his breath. "What's going on here?" he asked between breaths. He didn't take any notice of Ariel until he finally caught his breath and looked up. Penguin raised an eyebrow as he looked at her, then he looked at Zoidberg with the same quizzical expression. "Who is this? A friend of yours?"

"Well, uh-"

"Oh never mind. Come on! We gotta get there before the boat arrives, and we're already late! Let's go!"

"But what about her?" Zoidberg asked. He couldn't explain what it was at the time, but there was something about her that intrigued him and he wanted to find out what it was.

Penguin sighed. "Fine, bring her too, but we've gotta get going!" And with that, he turned around and started rushing in the direction which they came with Lilo following him.

Zoidberg looked over at Ariel. "Well miss, would you like to come with us?"

Ariel pondered it for a moment. She did want to see Eric, but if she followed them then maybe she could catch him somewhere in town. With that in mind, she nodded.

Zoidberg smiled. "Well then come on! Let's go!" Then the two of them got up and started after Lilo and Penguin.

* * *

Meanwhile, down at the docks, the ship did indeed arrive, and waiting by the ship were three other unusual people.

There was a short human with ghostly white skin and a funny moustache. He wore a black coat with matching pants and shoes so it looked almost as if his whole outfit was just one thing. And on top of his head was a funny hat that matched the rest of his outfit. (What a surprise.) This is Boris Badenov, another old friend of Penguin's. He and his long-time partner and girlfriend Natasha used to go on missions chasing after "Moose und Sqvirrel", better known as Rocky and Bullwikle. But eventually their boss, Fearless Leader, got fed up with their numerous failures and eventually forced them into banishment from Pottsylvania. Ever since then, he and Natasha had worked at a restaurant that used to be in charge of the famous Neptunian chef Elzar, but due to even more unfortunate luck, they ended up having to clean up after everyone else instead. When he received the invitation, he was reluctant to go for the invitation was only for one person and he didn't want to leave Natasha behind, but she eventually reassured him that she would be fine by herself.

Now, to Boris's left is another unusual creature. He was a lizard who wore clothing similar to that of a chimney sweep, which is exactly what he was. His name was Bill, and he too had come upon an invitation. Many years ago poor Bill had been shot out of Wonderland by a "monster", and had mysteriously ended up in London, England where he soon turned to crime as a way to live. That eventually led to him being a part of Professor Ratigan's gang. But shortly after the "Great Diamond Jubilee Caper" was foiled, he and most of his mouse friends had been arrested for being involved with the crime. during his time in prison, he had numerous visits from his old friend from his school days back in Wonderland, a yellow salamander by the name of Sally, and she had introduced him to a new acquaintance of hers, an alien called Snowflake, who in turn introduced her future-husband Penguin. For some time afterwards, he and Bill had become pen-pals. Several years later he and some of his fellow prisoners had gotten the news that they had been pardoned and would soon be released from their prison. Upon hearing such news, he got to writing a letter telling his friend of his happy news, in which Penguin decided to respond with an invitation to the vacation he was planning. Needless to say poor Bill wanted to try and forget this whole mess, so he immediately took up the offer.

To the left of Bill is a very tall, thin red creature known as an imaginary friend. He had two long, slender legs with two socks with red, while and blue stripes near the top, and had a pair of black-and-white sports-like sneakers on his feet. He had a blue 1 on his pear-shaped body, and one long right arm with a red, white and blue wristband on his wrist just above his four-fingered had. His left arm, however, was only a stub due to an old basketball accident he had suffered a long time ago. his oddly-shaped head had a broad smile on it and two eye-stalks coming out of it, but the left one was crooked and did not work due to the same accident that had made his arm the way it is. His name is Wilt. At first, the invitation wasn't for Wilt, but rather for Madame Foster's granddaughter Frankie. However, Frankie was too busy to go and had given it to her long-time friend Wilt. At first Wilt refused and insisted on doing all of Frankie's chores while she was gone, but after multiple insistants of all of his friends (with the exception of Bloo, who wanted to go himself), Wilt had been persuaded to go.

Now these three were waiting by the docks for their host and his other guests to arrive. They waited very patiently. Well, two out of the three of them did.

"Vhat's taking them so long?!," Boris asked impatiently in his Russian-like accent.

"Well, maybe they just got lost," Wilt reasoned. "I mean, after all, they did only arrive just a few hours before we did."

"'E's right, guv'na," Bill agreed. "You should give 'em a chance to arrive. I'm sure they'll show up soon enough."

Boris sighed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure."

And just as he was finished, they did indeed show up. First Penguin, then Lilo, then Zoidberg and Ariel, not too far behind. Before they knew it, they were right up next to them.

"See? We told you," Wilt said with a smile.

Boris frowned a bit. With the occasional exception of Natasha, he didn't like it when someone else was right for it almost always made him look foolish or dumb, a quality he didn't want to be seen for. "What took you so long?," Boris questioned a bit arrogantly.

Penguin took a handkerceif out of one of his coat pockets and wiped the sweat off of his brow. "My apologies. We lost track of the time."

"So I noticed," he said as he looked at the three behind him, who were also stopping for a moment to catch their breath. "So Cobblepot, who're your friends?"

Penguin turned to his company behind him. "Oh, I forgot. Zoidberg, Lilo; allow me to introduce you to my other guests." Then he turned toward his other three guests, making a hand motion towards each of them as he introduced them. "This is a long-time friend of the family; Boris Badenov." Boris lifted his hat in salutation, which revealed that from where the brim of his hat starts, he was bald. Lilo laughed a bit and Ariel stifled a chuckle as she watched from behind Zoidberg's back. Boris noticed this and he quickly put his hat back on as he turned away shyly.

Next, Penguin stepped away from Boris to introduce Bill. "This is Bill the Lizard, my friend from London."

Bill gently grasped the brim of his hat and tipped it a bit as he nodded. "Pleasure, gents," he said in his usual cockney accent, in which Lilo, Zoidberg and Ariel smiled in response.

Then Penguin blindly stepped in Wilt's direction. "And this is-," he opened his eyes and rather than seeing Frankie, he saw a long, thin pair of clothed legs. He, as well as the other three, tilted their heads upward to see Wilt's smiling face looking down at them. Penguin opened his mouth a bit. "Uh..."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself yet," Wilt said politely. He knelt down so that now he was almost at eye-level with the other guests. "My name is Wilt. Wilt Michaels. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Cobblepot," he said as he took Penguin's hand and shook it firmly.

Penguin, who was still a bit shocked, couldn't figure out what to say at first then he managed to ask him, "What happened to Frankie?"

"Frankie? Oh, I'm sorry. She had so many chores to do, so she gave her invitation to me instead." He paused for a moment. "Is that okay?"

"Uh, sure," he said. Then he promptly turned to the guests he hadn't introduced yet that were already with him. "Boris, Bill, Wilt; this is Lilo Pelekai, one of my numerous in-laws from Hawaii."

"Hi," Lilo said with a friendly wave. Wilt, Bill and Boris Smiled and waved back.

"This is another old friend of mine; Dr. Zoidberg. He works at the Planet Express in New New York," he stated.

"Um, I'm sorry, but did you just say "New New York"?," Wilt asked.

"Yeah, it's a different city, Don't ask," he said plainly. Then he went over to introduce Ariel. "And this is-," then he quickly remembered: Zoidberg had not told him the young lady's name. He quickly turned to him. "Hey, Zoid. What's her name?," he whispered quickly.

At that moment Zoidberg had also realized that he still didn't know her name. He looked over at Ariel. "Yes, miss. What _is _your name?," he asked. He did not receive an answer before, but perhaps now she would be willing to tell him.

Again, Ariel tried to speak, but she still couldn't answer. She looked down through the cracks of the boards on the dock. _'What can I do if I don't have my voice?,'_ she asked herself.

Now all six of the guests were staring at her. They soon gathered around her and Lilo gently tugged at her crudely-made dress. "Are you okay?," she asked with a bit of concern.

Again, Ariel looked down through the cracks of the dock's boards. She gently shook her head no.

"Can you talk?," Wilt asked. With a heavy heart, Ariel shook her head again. They all quietly gasped. Wilt frowned as he uttered a very quiet "I'm sorry."

Penguin decided to question her a bit further. "Do you live somewhere around here or know anybody here?" Once again, Ariel shook her head. Ariel's response made them all feel sorry for her. A poor, young lady who couldn't speak and had no friends and no place to really call home. It upset them.

Zoidberg looks sadly at his new-found friend. He had no idea that she was alone. He himself knew what it was like to have no friends or a real place to live. This was really upsetting, but what could he do? Then an idea came to him. He turned to the host of their vacation. "Penguin, do you think that she could stay with us while we're here?"

Penguin was a bit surprised that he would suggest such a thing, but then again, he too knew what it was like to feel alone and friendless, so he nodded in agreement and said, "Alright."

Zoidberg gave a whoop in excitement and turned to Ariel. "You hear that? He says you can stay with us!"

Ariel smiled immediately wrapped her arms around her new-found friend, which made him blush a little again.

The others were just as excited and they let out a cry of excitement as well! Who knows? Maybe they could even help her find a new place to stay and help her make friends in this place.

Penguin smiled at his happy crew. "Well, it is getting kinda late, so let's go to our temporary home, shall we?" The others nodded in agreement and followed their host to their temporary house.

* * *

As they were walking away, they were being observed by Ursula's two hench-fish; Flotsam and Jetsam. They were showing what they were seeing to Ursula, who was observing it in her dark and gloomy lair.

"So the little princess has made some new friends now, has she?," she said to herself. Her wicked grin grew widely at the sight of Ariel walking off with her new friends. "How intriguing."

"Should we follow them, master?," the two slimy eels said in unison.

Ursula gave it some thought. After a brief moment, she said, "No. Not yet. We'll see what she does tomorrow. But for now, we'll just leave them be." Ursula then started thinking more about the situation. "If that little brat somehow gets those foolish creatures to assist her, it just might be the end of our deal," she thought aloud. Then she thought over it a bit more. "Then again, those foolish creatures might just keep her too busy over the remainder of those three days." The thought of it made her dark grin grow wider. "Perhaps those friends of hers might just be her downfall! Yes. Yes! I'm sure of it! So long as they keep her busy and away from 'Prince Charming' this deal just might pay off! Yes!" Then she looked at the shell around her neck that held Ariel's precious voice. "And everything will fall into place."


	3. Chapter 3: The Truth and Promises

_**Oh man. I'm sorry for not updating my challenge, guys, but I've been having problems involving the uploading of word documents and putting them up, so please forgive me. Okay, here is the long-awaited Chapter 3.**_

* * *

As the group walked the streets of the town to their temporary home-away-from-home, Ariel listened intently to the stories her new friends were talking about. She had learned that the one they called Penguin had come from a place called Gotham City and was part of a once-rich family that had somehow lost their fortune due to some troublesome ties his parents had to certain crime-related groups. Boris's parents were apparently two members of one of the afore-mentioned groups but had somehow still stayed loyal to the Cobblepots even as they lived in a small European country called Pottsylvania. Lilo lived in Kokaua Town on one of the Hawaiian islands and she mentioned a time or two how she and Penguin had been acquainted and were somehow related, but neither one ever specified how they first met nor how they were relatives. Bill told them about how he once lived in Wonderland and how some monster had sent him traveling through time and into London where things in his life went from bad to worse then back to good again. Wilt talked about how he and his creator went their separate ways and how he ended up at Foster's and became friends with the residents as well as Frankie, the woman whom was originally invited but forced to decline. Zoidberg, the strangest of all, told them about how he was from another planet called Decapod 10 and how he left his home planet to become an Earth doctor on the planet that had much more freedom than his own. Each of them had their own unique story, and the more they talked the more comfortable Ariel felt with them. They continued to discuss their lives until they came to a quaint cottage-like house on a hill that overlooked the beach and the sea.

"Well, here we are," Penguin stated. "Pretty nice, huh?"

"You can say tha' again, guv'na," Bill agreed. The others nodded in agreement.

"I thought you guys might like it," he said with a smile. He walked ahead and opened the front door. He looked over at Lilo and Ariel. "Ladies first," he said as he held the door wide open with one hand and motioned them in with the other. The two girls smiled as they and the others walked past him and into the house. It looked bigger on the inside once they entered, but that may have been due to the lack of accumulated items that would usually be inside of a house. There were some basic pieces of furniture such as a wooden table with some chairs to match and a few large, red, velvet-like chairs huddled together near a small coffee table on a rug near the hearth, but other than that, there wasn't anything much to look at on or among the walls. However, the lack of the usual decor didn't take away from its beauty. In fact, it was the simplicity of the place that made the others feel right at home.

"Wow!," Wilt exclaimed as he stared out the large window on the wall next to the fireplace that overlooked the vast ocean below. "Would you look at that view!"

"That's part of the reason as to why I rented the place," Penguin admitted as he shut the door and dashed to join the others whom were now all gathered around the window. All seven of them gazed in awe out into the vast blue seas as the sunlight shone down upon the waves to make them sparkle like a precious jewel. Ariel loved the sight. It reminded her of the good times back home in Atlantica with Flounder, Sebastian and all of her sisters. Back before her father became over-critical of the humans and before he found her secret grotto where she kept all of the things she had found in the remains of sunken ships and destroyed them. Back before she met Ursula and--

_'Ursula!,'_ her mind cried out suddenly. Her chance meeting with the odd group had caused her to almost completely forget about her deal with the infamous sea witch. She suddenly noticed that the sun was setting down upon the waves and she started to panic. Today was the first day, and it was already over! Now she only had two days left as a human to find Prince Eric and have him give her a kiss of true love in order to remain a human or else become one of many of Ursula's poor, unfortunate souls that had failed to pay the price that was given to them in return for her help. It was only her first day and it was already gone before she knew it! When Zoidberg turned to speak with his new friend, he noticed that she wasn't there next to him. He turned around and saw her staring uncomfortably out at the ocean. The look on her face puzzled him and made him concerned for his new mysterious acquaintance.

"Are you okay, miss?," he asked her with concern. His question caused the others to turn and see her as well. Once they saw her face they also became concerned. When she shook her head they became even more worrisome.

"What's the matter?," Wilt questioned. "Are you sick?" She shook her head again. "No?"

"Scared of the dark?," Bill suggested, which caused her to shake her head again.

"Hydrophobia?," Lilo asked. Again, she shook her head.

"I vish you could tell us vhat the problem is," Boris sighed in exasperation.

Wilt put his hand up to his face and stroked his chin with his thumb. "Yeah, me too. I'm sorry, but the kind of questions we're asking her don't seem to be getting us any-- Hey, wait. Miss, can you write?" The other five looked up at Wilt in puzzlement at his somewhat-random question, but she smiled and eagerly nodded. He smiled his usual bright, toothy smile. "That's great!" He looked down at the others. "Hey, do any of you guys have any writing paper, by any chance?"

"I do," Lilo admitted.

"Oh, good! Can you bring it out, please? That is, if it's okay."

"Alright." While she ran off to retrieve the paper, Wilt insisted that Ariel to move to the table, which she did.

"Go ahead and sit down, if you want," he said. He pulled out one of the chairs and pushed her in once she sat down. Once she was seated, Lilo suddenly came back with the paper that Wilt had asked for in one hand and a black pen in the other, both of which she set in front of Ariel.

"Here you go," she said as she set them down. All at once Penguin seemed to understand whereas the rest of the group seemed to be a bit slower on figuring out the matter.

"Oh, I get it now," he said as he approached the table with the others following shortly behind. "Since she can't use her voice to tell us what's wrong, she can write out what she wants to say instead."

"Exactly," Wilt answered.

The others sighed in understandment. "Oi, why didn't we think of tha' earlier?," Bill wondered aloud.

Boris shrugged. "Who cares? Let's ask her something."

"Well, where are we gonna start?," Wilt questioned.

"What about her name?," Lilo suggested. "I think she's kinda tired of us calling her 'miss' all the time."

"An excellent idea," Zoidberg agreed. He stood next to Ariel and looked her in the eye. "So what _is_ your name?"

She smiled; she hoped that this would be their first question. She put the pen down onto the paper and wrote it out to tell them. Once she finished, she slid it off a little to her left so that they could read it.

_My name is Ariel._

"Ariel?," Zoidberg read aloud.

"That's a pretty name," Lilo commented.

Ariel smiled as she took it back and wrote on it again.

_Thank you._

"Oh. You're welcome," said the little girl. "So, where are you from? Do you have any family here?"

Ariel looked a bit concerned at the question. She wrote down her answer and showed it to them.

_I'm not sure if you will believe me if I told you much more about myself._

The six of them exchanged puzzling glances between each other. "I'm sorry, but, why not?," Wilt asked. She took the paper back, wrote, and showed it again.

_You might think I'm crazy._

Penguin chuckled and shook his head at her answer. "Listen, Ariel; in case you've forgotten, you're talking to a group with people whose own pasts would be called crazy in and of themselves. Heck, half of us here aren't even human!" He glanced for a moment at Zoidberg, Wilt and Bill. "No offense meant, of course, gentlemen."

The three of them shrugged casually. "None taken, guv," Bill replied.

He flashed them a small smile and continued. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about being called crazy by anyone here."

"He's got a point," Zoidberg admitted. "We'll believe you."

Ariel thought about it for a moment. They were indeed an unusual bunch; half of them claimed to have had their lives changed by strange creatures and the other half weren't even humans themselves! The odds of being accused of insanity were rather limited, and that was a good thing.

_Alright, I'll take your word, but I hope you keep to it._

She stared over at Penguin when they read it, to which he gave a grin with a surprising set of pointed teeth that she had somehow failed to notice before. "Ariel, my dear, you have my word as a Cobblepot." He grabbed the brim of his large top hat with his right hand and placed it over his heart as he bowed dramatically. Ariel smiled at the unusual gesture the short man had given her and once he had straightened himself out and placed his hat back on his head she continued to write.

_I come from Atlantica. It is a city far beneath the waves of the ocean and it is not too far away from here. I live there with all of my sisters and my father, King Triton._

"King?," Lilo asked aloud.

"But if your dad is the king," Wilt continued, "that means that you are a-"

"Princess?," Bill finished for him. Ariel looked over the six of them, whose eyes were all wide with surprise, and nodded. The group let out a loud gasp of surprise.

"Your highness," Zoidberg breathed. Without warning, he knelt down by her side, bowed his head and kissed her hand. A little stunned, Ariel slipped her hand away from him and shyly stared at the others.

"We don't have to do that too, do we?," Penguin asked blankly. She smiled brightly and shook her head.

"Hey now vait a minute, if you came from underwater, then vouldn't that make you some sort of mermaid person?," Boris questioned.

_Yes, I was._

"_'Vas'_? Vhat do you mean by _'vas'_? Vhat happened?"

_It's a long story._

Zoidberg shrugged. "We've got time," he told her. "We've got nothing better to do."

Ariel's cheery disposition suddenly turned into one of depression. She turned away slightly and silently sighed.

_Alright, if you insist; I'll start from the beginning._

She wrote out her whole story from the very beginning; before she met Eric. She explained how she loved to learn about the humans; what they knew, what they did, what they made. She told them how she met her friend Scuttle, a seagull that knew about the humans, and how she always talked her friend Flounder into coming with her on her adventures. Her father never understood her fascination with them, so she hid away her human-related things in a secret grotto that only she and Flounder (and, later, her father's assistant, Sebastian) knew about. She told them about how she saved the one called Prince Eric from death and how she had made a deal with Ursula to trade her voice in order to become human and to be able to be with him. Unfortunately, she had only three days to complete her task and since that day was her first she had only two days left or else her soul would belong to the sea witch.

"I guess it's our fault that your first day was ruined then," Zoidberg sighed sadly. Not wanting any of them to feel bad, Ariel quickly wrote again.

_It's alright; you didn't know. After all, how could you? You weren't there, and I couldn't tell you about it until now._

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't help you at all," Lilo admitted. "Now you've only got two days to get with this Prince Eric."

"She's still got two days, though," Bill pointed out.

"Yeah, but is that enough?," Boris asked.

Wilt shrugged. "It could be. Well, whatever the case, I hope that we can get you two together."

The princess stared up at the tall friend.

_You mean you believe me?_

"Why wouldn't we?," Lilo asked. "You seem honest enough. Plus, your story doesn't sound like something you could easily make up."

_So you don't think I'm crazy?_

"No!," the six answered in unison.

"I told you we wouldn't," Penguin reminded her. Ariel smiled.

_You were right._

"Hey, that's a first for you, Cobblepot!," Boris joked.

Penguin glared at his Pottsylvanian friend. "Yeah? Still beats your record, though, doesn't it?," he teased back with a sly grin.

"Oh, come on, you two; cut it out!," Wilt laughed. "We really should be discussing how we're going to help out Ariel."

"No; vhat we really should be discussing is vhat ve're gonna have to eat," Boris told them as he walked off down the hallway and disappeared into the small kitchen. His voice rang out through the hallway and asked them, "Vhat does everyone vant?!"

"How about pizza?," Wilt suggested. Zoidberg, Penguin and Lilo all cried out in positive response. Bill just looked over at Ariel and shrugged.

"I've never 'ad a pizza b'fore," he admitted to her. Ariel grinned and wrote again.

_Neither have I._

"Alright," Boris shouted again. "Anything you vant on it?"

Without hesitation, Zoidberg, Penguin and Lilo all cried out in unison their favorite topping; "Anchovies!" Once they did, however, their faces faded into surprise and they looked at each other, then at Ariel whom gave them all a puzzling look.

After a few seconds of embarrassing silence, Lilo finally said, "On second thought, maybe we should have pineapple."

* * *

**_Oh, come on; don't tell me that you guys didn't see the anchovy joke coming! Lilo demanded once that her half of her pizza have anchovies, and in "Call of the Cobblepot" (Penguin's first episode), Penguin revealed that anchovies were his favorite topping. And Zoidberg? He went absolutely crazy for them in "A Fishful of Dollars." I just couldn't resist not doing that joke! XDD_**

**_Silliness aside, I hope you all liked this chapter; I spent quite a while working on it. Again, I apologise for not updating sooner, but like I said, I'm having trouble with updates due to the terrible combination of chapter-uploading problems, a busy school schedule, writer's block, and just plain laziness. Don't worry, though; I haven't abandonned this! I will be back with an update!_**

**_Thanxz,_**

**_Cartoonatic55_**


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